Everybody's Gone to the Rapture Reviews
As much as this game could have been a great suspense story, it falls short in making clear what the story is about.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is an absolutely stunning game, but once your initial awe for the visuals begins to fade all you're left with is a drawn-out narrative that has you wandering from one story set-piece to another.
Until quite late on in the game, I struggled to figure out what I thought about Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. An absolutely stunning piece of visual art, it's somewhat let down by its impossibly slow pace, and the ease of which key plot points can be missed. It felt at times like I would rather have been "in the moment" of the apocalypse, experiencing the titular Rapture first hand, rather than piecing together the events after the fact. A game in which you sometimes struggle to find yourself caring about some of the people involved, but with enough atmosphere to enable life on the Moon, Rapture really is a mixed bag. If you want a change of pace from the regular "shooty bang" fodder, then it's worth a look, even with its (very obvious) flaws.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is really more of an experience than it is a game. There is replayability in going back to see if there are any clues you might have missed, but the game already does a decent job of making sure you see what you need to see.
When it comes to immersive experiences Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is definitely one worth exploring and will leave you pondering it even after you've finished. It's a nostalgic, sci-fi mystery and is one of the finest indie games to grace the PlayStation 4 in 2015.
I personally love the idea about how the developers used this instead of showing us what has happened during the apocalypse, since it adds more drama to the game. The game showcases each character's trait, depending on what predicament they're in. The idea of "how the people would react/feel about the tragedy" is certainly the strongest point in this game. The gameplay's simple feel makes it a bit boring and lackluster, though, since you can't run and there aren't really any other mechanics present in the game, but you won't be able to deny that the game's story would most certainly be aesthetic.
This game is pure art, whichever way you look at it, whoever, it's frustratingly slow pace eventually does tire the player. There is lots of hidden content if we choose to explore off ways, and since we have no clear indication of where to go next, this is something i even encourage. It reminds me a lot of the The Day of the Triffids novel, and Lost, the tv series. This is a game to be played slowly, relaxed, no rushing, you are not going to be able to anyway.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Offering a rich atmosphere and meaty philosophical concepts. . . Everybody's Gone to the Rapture paints a different kind of doomsday to all preceding incarnations
One of this year's easy contenders for game of the year, and for less than £16. That's what, a curry and pint?
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is an interactive work of art. Those of us who can be demanding when it comes to the realm of virtual storytelling might spot some minor flaws. Aside from those flaws, and beyond those who complain about the speed and lack of input commands, the game stands tall in its efforts to reach a new level of interactive storytelling.
Games that attempt to push past normal boundaries and focus on the joy of simply playing have to go by a different set of rules for engagement, and The Chinese Room has offered something that reminded me of Journey – I didn't know what to do then, so I simply moved, explored and found the story on my own. But while Journey fostered a connection with others, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture left me feeling completely alone as a player and desperate to find out why. The answers came slowly, and they might not be utterly satisfying at first, but that's what can happen when you go where everyone is not.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is a triumph.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture has a subtlety and nuance that is extremely refreshing. Calling this a "game" is doing it a great disservice. It is an experience. Thusly, this might not be everyone's cup of tea. However, those that chose to invest their valuable time in this 5 hour gem will be rewarded with one of the most compelling experiences in recent memory. The truth is out there, just waiting to be discovered. Don't miss out.
The Chinese Room has managed to create one of the most insightful, meaningful, and emotional games that we've seen in some time, perhaps forever, and bravo to Sony for taking a real punt with something so completely arthouse.
If you enjoy games with impressively rendered visuals, an excellent score, and a story that is both compelling and moving then Everybody's Gone to the Rapture will provide you with a bountiful return on your investment.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is an incredibly engaging piece of fiction. Its investigation into humanity and relationships far exceeds its desire to wow you with action. It is a slow game, a contemplative game, and it's one of my favorites this year.
Then, after an increasingly desperate three-hour session of sparkle-seeking, Rapture crashed, and I gave up, unwilling to keep pretending that I cared. The screen froze on an image of a road emblazoned with the word "SLOW," like it was mocking the torturous pace of my progress. If only Rapture had such a puckish streak, its sluggish march might have been more bearable. Instead, I found myself wishing that I could go to the rapture, too.
If you think walking slowly around an empty village sounds like a load of bollocks, this probably isn't the game for you. It's more of an immersive narrative than an action-packed piece of entertainment, and if the PS4 wasn't already struggling with frame rates in this version, I'd say it's ideal for virtual reality.
Walking simulator as a term started as a dismissive joke, and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is the punchline, a shaggy dog effort determined to mock the idea that games need players. It's not meta. It's not clever. It's banal and tedious and if your narrative focused do-nothing game wouldn't work as a halfway interesting short story, then it won't be better just because you force people to walk slowly around a wholly un-interactive game space while you drip-feed them unconnected plot points.